Published

Chapter 29 – Outerman v. Tudor

Cursitor Street

Cursitor Street is an actual street in London, but the etymological meaning of its Latin-derived components might be ironically deployed here. A cursitor is “someone who runs”—but Charley is taken to Cursitor Street so that he can no longer run from his debts. [RR 2016]

not without

As the bailiff escorts Charley to Cursitor Street, Charley is “not without some feeling of consolation.” The litotes—which asserts through negation—seems an apt way to convey Charley’s ambivalence: although he is not glad to be taken, he will no longer suffer from the anticipation of such a happening and he is also thus excused from visiting Norah. [RR 2016]